... mesmerizing.

Veritas, Sabar’s exhausting, madcap, unforgettable book...is for enthusiasts of ancient Christianity, as well as anyone who likes watching snooty academics brought low and readers of idea-driven capers, whether by Daniel Silva or Janet Malcolm. It’s a barely believable tale, crazier than a tweed-sniffer in the faculty lounge. The book’s flaws are those of a journalist who Goes Big. It is 34 percent too long. Sabar often overreaches, as when he dips a toe, then plunges, into the psychoanalysis of his subjects.

... extraordinary.

Book-length expansions of articles often seem bloated, but this one is a remarkable exception. Every page of its icily forensic narrative advances the story in some unexpected way, continually modifying one’s understanding of its principal players and their complex motives. It is partly a psychological thriller about the danse macabre that goes on between a skilled con man and a well-chosen mark, partly a global-historical blockbuster with variants on the obligatory tropes: lurid sex, wicked priests, Egyptology, Nazis. But it is also, most interestingly, a sustained study of the clash between the idea of historical truth as a set of objective facts waiting to be uncovered by rigorous inquiry and the more contemporary notion of it as a construct, amenable to (and fair game for) deliberate intervention. Sabar is clearly in favour of establishing the historical truth, and the spectacular results of his old-fashioned diligence stand as a 400-page rebuke to those who aren’t. But a surprising magnanimity prevails, with both King and her manipulator retaining a measure of sympathy, even respect, to the end.

If turning scraps of ancient papyrus into an enthralling true-crime escapade takes a miracle, consider Ariel Sabar a miracle worker.

Ariel Sabar takes the reader on a tour de force of investigative journalism to uncover the 'fake news' in a story that shook both the faithful as well as the academy.

... offers a vital lesson less about Christianity than about what happens when a scholar decides that the story is more important than the truth.

It is a sad but fascinating tale, and Ariel Sabar digs out every detail in his engrossing book.

Sabar offers plenty of fascinating arcana about scientific and historical methods for testing and analyzing such an object, and he also brings to life many of the people involved.

Sabar is an experienced journalist. Here he puts his considerable investigative chops to work and fashions a cautionary tale about experts and expertise that is minutely researched and thoroughly absorbing.

... a well-researched, engrossing backstory of failed discovery from a noted scholar. Best suited for readers interested in biblical studies and papyrology..

... an exhaustive examination of the whole affair in a work of exemplary narrative nonfiction.

... entertaining.

Intriguing.